Iara Beorht
Ia'raklayne Beorht (16 BBY), also known as Iara Clane Beorht, is a rehabilitated Sith Knight, currently a Jedi Knight. Having lost most of her left lekku, she is a loner, unable to communicate properly with fellow Twi'leks. The loss of part of her central nervous system is something she's had to deal with for many years, and though unpredictable, she is sane. Though nominally a member of the Order, she spends most of her time either in the field or with her daughter Alu, who lives at the Jedi Temple on Ossus. She does not associate very closely with other members of the Order. Notable exceptions include the Sage family - she was a participant in their liberation of the Anari Sector - and Arice Quinn. History The Empire Iara was born Ia'raclayne on Nam Chorios, descendant of Twi'lek slaves brought to the desert world by a long-dead Huttese dictator. As an Oldtimer, she was raised to respect the Theran Listeners. When she began to hear Tsils, around the age of ten, her parents sent her to learn from the Listeners. She did so until early adulthood, when she finally grew frustrated, wanting to learn more overt uses for the Force without causing the planet's strange Force-storms. Wandering For several years, Iara traveled the galaxy, learning from a variety of teachers including a surviving Gray Paladin. She spent time in Wild Space and the Kathol Outback; it was there that she met an Aing-Tii Monk. She is known to the Aing-Tii, and while they didn't exactly count her as a friend, she was considered reasonably trustworthy - though not enough to learn their unique Force techniques. By this time she was frustrated at not finding the knowledge she sought. The Sith Empire When the Sith Empire formed under Darth Kren, Iara sought out a place in its organization. Kren's associates oversaw her training. She eventually became one of Norik Kun's most capable operatives. Her career as an agent/enforcer came to a halt with the mission to investigate the disappearance of Master Hyrkal at an ancient Sith Repository. The ensuing investigation gave the Sith Empire large quantities of alchemically hardened metal, as well as a treasure trove of technology and information. Iara was especially interested in strange cloning tanks that produced Force-blind clones - and in a curiously preserved Derriphan-class battlecruiser, thousands of years old but still relatively spaceworthy, used as an escape vehicle by a hapless con man named Carthoum Varu. Varu was deemed harmless and placed in Iara's custody, where he became a valuable member of her unofficial staff. It later transpired that Varu was the vessel for the spirit of a mad Darksider who had been the one to locate the Repository. .]]Her next assignment was to watchdog the Detori Lyn-Char Beorht, who had sought political asylum in the Sith Empire. Several months into his stay, they fell in love and were married. In a dispute over Lyn's fate, her lekku was severed by Rolf Valkner, but Lyn defeated the Anzati Darksider with Iara's help. Shortly thereafter, Iara was sent to help conquer the Anari Sector. She led the assault on the Twilight Praxeum, defeating Arianah Windryder and La-Reia Beorht. The captured Dark Jedi children were put in her care - something that eventually caused her more than one headache; they included the teenage Brembla Kol and Ember Rekali. She became governor of the Anari Sector. A few months later, not long after the birth of their daughter Alu, she and Lyn separated, and he left the region. She was ordered to find him and erase all memory of Sith fleet deployments and other important information. Meanwhile, lured by immense payoffs, Lyn worked secretly for NRI in an attempt to provoke hostilities between the SE and the Imperial Remnant. Though the hoped-for war did not erupt, he was nevertheless paid, and handsomely. He set out to try again with NRI permission, hunting down for aid a young Detori-turned-Lightsider named Moroiniy Traverts, of a group called the Paladin Order. Traverts and Lyn set out for Bilbringi, but Iara intercepted them. Traverts was killed; Lyn resisted but was defeated. In the process of altering his memories, she discovered his part in the NRI missions; stunned, she botched the memory alteration and erased a year's worth of memories, including all recollection of being in the Sith Empire - and of being married to her. Her mistake shocked her to the core, and her control faltered. All of Lyn's memories were affected to some degree or another. She dropped him off somewhere she thought he would be safe and returned to Ziost, trying to secretly find a solution. When she returned a few days later, he was gone. Ashamed of her mistakes, she tried to keep an eye on him from afar. Rogue After the death of Darth Kren and Norik Kun, Iara became a warlord, running the Anari Sector from the Star Destroyer Anomander Rake and raising Alu at the same time. She took an apprentice, a boy named Mikhail Lytle. Not long after, Lyn returned - not knowing that she was his wife - to get the Detori children and re-form his old Order. Iara acquiesced without telling him about their history together, but watched him even more closely. His memory, to her disappointment, refused to return. Later, former New Republic Admiral Cabbal Noir assaulted the Detori stronghold on Sabii and killed or captured the Detori. Lyn, Rekali and Kol were imprisoned on the ISD Lastwatch. Iara ambushed the Lastwatch and its escorts, and sent both boarding troops and spacetroopers to rescue her husband. She secured many of the Detori along with him. Most were released eventually, including Lyn and Rekali. One exception was a young woman named Brembla Kol, who had become one of Lyn's apprentices. Her vacuum exposure had been so great that she was clinically dead for almost an hour before Iara's surgeons saved her. Kol's recovery was long and painful, and she had to be fitted with several prosthetics. Iara became something of a mentor to the young woman during her recovery; for Iara's part, she enjoyed having a friend. Not long after, Iara left the Anari Sector to fight the Xen'Chi, missing the SE's reunification under Rashael Koss. She took Alu with her in her travels, except on the more dangerous missions. By this point, Lyn had returned to the Light Side and 'served his time' in penance. With the aid of Brembla Kol, Iara found a way to restore Lyn's memory. He, she and Alu spent several months as a family before Lyn was killed by the Xen'Chi; by that point, Lyn had brought Iara to the Light Side. Iara and Alu dropped off what little radar they'd been on, unknowns in a galaxy where everyone wore their colours on their sleeves. Her apprentice Mikhail, jealous of Lyn and guilty that he'd left Lyn to die, stole the location of the Valley of the Jedi from her and defected to Darth Sirena, which set numerous wheels in motion. Jedi Knight Now a determined Lightsider, Iara and a modified PK-series named Quirk pursued Mikhail into the Sith-dominated Anari sector and began to help Adam Sage and company on Elysia. She continued to help the crew of the Sage's Destiny fight Sirena, aided in the liberation of the sector she'd once ruled, and even dueled the Sith Witch on Sabii. Though she was ultimately defeated, she retained Sirena's lightsabre. Throughout the campaign, she learned the ways of the Jedi, and when Sage's team faced Sirena at the Valley of the Jedi, Iara was among them. After Sirena's defeat and Mikhail's lapse into a coma, Iara went to the Ossus Jedi Temple to watch over him and become more integrated into the Jedi Order which she had so recently joined. She met Arice Quinn, who developed an attraction towards her; Iara, though loyal to Lyn's memory, was interested. She also pursued her relationship with Max Sage. She was there when Mikhail woke up from his coma, a change which triggered a vision in Benna Kol-Rekali's flow-walking. Prompted by Mikhail's concern over another Padawan's absence, Benna saw the Padawan's abductors talking to a distinctive-looking Sith, who Iara identified as Ald Sorosel. Not knowing that Sorosel was Darth Sarastro, ruler of the Sith'ari Centrality, Iara took Mikhail, Benna and Jace Vintari to Vorzyd V, hoping to track down Sorosel. She encountered Central Command Operatives and was directed to the Empress Teta system, which turned out to be a trap. Seren Teancum Mordavo, Rolf Valkner, Ashin Varanin and Samanthe Amae descended on the Jedi team, and only an unexpected release of Mikhail's power - the power of the Valley of the Jedi - saved them from being captured by the Sith Lords. Seriously injured, and trying to manage a herd of Jedi Padawans, Iara missed Mikhail and Benna Kol-Rekali becoming intimate. She was saved by a tipoff from Farn Engel: the missing Padawan had been spotted again. The Jedi team cornered the Padawan and her Sith keepers on a cruise liner, and rescued the missing Jedi. Along with Ossu Ikari, Rach Kol-Rekali, Ethan Voss and Caitlin Voss, she took the Holocron to the Battle of Mon Calamari, where she boarded a Colony Laser to keep it out of Charon hands through sabotage. Though she was casually seeing Max Sage, she kissed Arice Quinn, in part hoping that it would be 'enough' for him so that he could focus on the battle and not on her. This may have been self-deception on her part. Frustrated and infuriated, she used the Dark Side to get a dying Arice to safety. The Holocron became trapped in a region of exploding starships; Rach simply was not skilled enough as a pilot. The spirit of Lyn Beorht came to him and offered to fly his old ship. Rach accepted. Lyn possessed the body of the young Jedi, and flew the Holocron to safety. Stunned, Iara shared a few minutes of intimacy with her departed husband, while ensuring Rach experienced nothing of it. Iara was confronted by Ember Rekali, now grown old through temporal shifts - no longer the Detori teenager she had captured and imprisoned, but a member of the Jedi Council and father to both Benna and Rach. Ember was furious that Benna and Mikhail's indiscretions had happened while Iara was their chaperone, and upon learning that she had slept with Rach, his temper threatened to boil over. Iara's relationship with Max Sage foundered. With the return of Arice Quinn, Iara saw the potential for a new beginning, but she had to address the ongoing and inexplicable sickness threatening her daughter. Arice - freshly turned into a Vankyr - accompanied her and Ossu Ikari into the Sith Empire, where they met with Ashin Varanin and with Velok. Velok studied her daughter's condition and told her that Alu had been a genetic experiment. Alu would adapt traits from other types of Sithspawn upon contact. She had already adopted Vankyr speed from Arice, but her body required a new infusion of genetic material. Velok recommended that Iara and Arice take Alu to the Sith Academy and find a girl named Rave. Starships As an agent of the Sith Empire, Iara commanded a Derriphan-class battlecruiser, which had been curiously preserved in the ancient Sith repository whose cleanup she oversaw. Updated to galactic standard technical levels, the Thirteenth Night was one of the vessels she used to assault the Twilight Praxeum on Sabii. Its whereabouts are unknown. As governor of the Anari Sector for the Sith Empire, Iara's flagship was the Anomander Rake, an Allegiance-class Star Destroyer captained by Biljan Szeni. Iara took it to war against the Xen'Chi near Bakura, along with a large fleet and every Sith in her territory. Curious events ensued and the fleet was scattered and lost throughout Wild Space, later to be tracked down successfully by Ald Sorosel. This ship is currently in the hands of the Sith'ari Centrality. As a wanderer, Iara used a rebuilt 578-R transport with the odd Bith name of Ambrotose. After she joined the Jedi Order, she began to use Lyn's old Delaya-class courier, the Holocron, which she and Rach Kol-Rekali flew at the Battle of Mon Calamari in an effort to retake or wreck a Colony Laser captured by Charon. She subsequently renamed it the Aletheia. Abilities The Force For a powerful, experienced Knight, Iara is very capable with telekinesis and Absorb / Dissipate Energy. She has been known to fight Masters and make a good showing of herself. She frequently makes use of the following: *Electric Judgment *Force Deflection *Force Absorb Additionally, she knows Memory Rub and Theran Force-Listening. Combat *Form I: Shii-Cho (Advanced) *Jar'Kai (Advanced) Iara has been known to use Sith swords and daggers, in addition to her lightsabre. She is exceptionally quick and quite strong. An experienced duellist, she defeated La-Reia Beorht and Arianah Windryder while pregnant, and held her own against Darth Sirena. She has a custom of taking the lightsabres of those she defeats in personal combat. Her collection includes, but is not limited to: *A lightsabre taken from an Inquisitor: blue blade. *An early lightsabre made by Arianah Windryder: red blade. *A lightstaff taken from a Sith acolyte on Elysia: red blades. *Two lightsabres taken from Sith acolytes on Elysia: red blades. *An alchemical cutlass taken from a Detori during the SE assault on Sabii. *Darth Sirena's lightsabre, taken during the Jedi assault on Sabii: red blade.